1921 English cricket season

1921 was the 28th season of County Championshipcricket in England. Australia emphasised a post-war superiority that it owed in particular to the pace duo of Gregory and McDonald. Having won 5-0 in Australia the previous winter, the Australians won the first three Tests of the 1921 tour and then drew the last two to retain the Ashes, it was the 29th test series between the two sides.[1]

1.
County Championship
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The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. The competition consists of eighteen clubs named after, and originally representing, historic counties, seventeen from England, from 2016, the Championship will be sponsored by Specsavers, who replaced Liverpool Victoria after 14 years. In contrast, the term County Champions applies in common parlance to a team that has won the title since 1890. The most usual means of claiming the title was by popular or press acclaim. In the majority of cases, the claim or proclamation was retrospective, the unofficial title was not proclaimed in every season up to 1889 because in many cases there were not enough matches or there was simply no clear candidate. The concept of the title has been utilised ad hoc. The official County Championship was constituted in a meeting at Lords Cricket Ground on 10 December 1889 which was called to enable club secretaries to determine the 1890 fixtures. While this was going on, representatives of the eight leading county clubs held a meeting to discuss the method by which the county championship should in future be decided. A majority were in favour of ignoring drawn games altogether and settling the championship by wins, under this system defeats were subtracted from victories and the county with the highest total were champions. The new competition, which had official sanction, began in the 1890 season and at first featured Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Surrey, Sussex and it is difficult to know when the concept of a county championship originated. While early matches were often between teams named after counties, they were not the teams the usage would imply today. That may be so re the actual terminology but closer examination of the sources indicate a much earlier expression of the idea. The earliest known inter-county match was in 1709 between Kent and Surrey but match results are unknown until the 1720s. The first time a source refers to the superiority of one county is in respect of a match between Edwin Steads XI and Sir William Gages XI at Penshurst Park in August 1728, Steads XI won by an unknown margin although Gages XI needed just 7 in their second innings. The source says that the game could be called Kent v Sussex as the players were reported as 11 of each county, Sir William Gage was a Sussex landowner and Edwin Stead was a resident of Maidstone in Kent. Evidently Mr Steads Kent team also won two games earlier that season against the Duke of Richmonds XI, the source states that was the third time this summer that the Kent men have been too expert for those of Sussex. This clearly implies that Kent was considered to be the county at that time. In 1729, Sir William Gages Sussex team defeated Kent on 5 September, The latter got in one hand and this may have been the earliest known innings victory

2.
Cricket
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Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket at each end. One team bats, attempting to score as many runs as possible, each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a number of overs have been completed, the innings ends. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, at the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders enter the field of play. The striker takes guard on a crease drawn on the four feet in front of the wicket. His role is to prevent the ball hitting the stumps by use of his bat. The other batsman, known as the non-striker, waits at the end of the pitch near the bowler. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, and a teammate replaces him, the bowlers objectives are to prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman. An over is a set of six deliveries bowled by the same bowler, the next over is bowled from the other end of the pitch by a different bowler. If a fielder retrieves the ball enough to put down the wicket with a batsman not having reached the crease at that end of the pitch. Adjudication is performed on the field by two umpires, the laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council and the Marylebone Cricket Club. Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball. Although crickets origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in south-east England in the 16th century and it spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first international matches in the mid-19th century. ICC, the governing body, has over 100 members. The sport is followed primarily in Australasia, Britain, the Indian subcontinent, southern Africa, womens cricket, which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term cricket, in the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett. One possible source for the name is the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff, in Samuel Johnsons Dictionary, he derived cricket from cryce, Saxon, a stick

3.
Middlesex County Cricket Club
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Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the county of Middlesex. Middlesex teams formed by earlier organisations since the early 18th century always had senior status and so the county club is rated accordingly from inception, the club plays most of its home games at Lords Cricket Ground in St Johns Wood, which is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club. The club also plays some games around the county at the Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground. Until October 2014, the club played limited overs cricket as the Middlesex Panthers, however, on 24 October 2014, the club announced that they would use the name Middlesex County Cricket Club in all forms of the sport, with immediate effect. Limited-overs kit colours are blue and pink quarters and from 2007. Middlesex CCC has a school based in Finchley, the Middlesex Academy. Early references to the game in London or Middlesex are often interchangeable, see, History of cricket to 1696 and History of cricket 1697 -1725 The first definite mention of cricket in London or Middlesex dates from 1680. It is a reference to the two umpires and strongly suggests that the double wicket form of the game was already well known in London. The earliest known match in Middlesex took place at Lambs Conduit Fields in Holborn on 3 July 1707 involving teams from London and Croydon, in 1718, the first reference is found to White Conduit Fields in Islington, which later became a very famous London venue. The earliest known reference to a team called Middlesex is on 5 August 1728 when it played London Cricket Club in the fields behind the Woolpack, in Islington, near Sadlers Wells and this was also the earliest known first-class match involving a Middlesex team. The club was founded on 15 December 1863 at a meeting in the London Tavern. Formal constitution took place on 2 February 1864, Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Islington on 6 &7 June 1864. In the same season, the club was a contender for the title of Champion County, Middlesex played at Lillie Bridge Grounds from 1869 before leaving in 1872 due to the poor quality of the turf. The club nearly folded at this time, a vote for continuing being won 7–6 and they played at Princes Cricket Ground from 1872 to 1876, and began using Lords Cricket Ground in 1877. The Club has produced several noted players, particularly the great batsmen Patsy Hendren, Bill Edrich, Bill Edrich scored 1,000 runs before the end of May in 1938. He needed just 15 innings, with 4 centuries, and every run was scored at Lords, don Bradman gave him the chance to score the 10 runs he needed in the Australian tour match with Middlesex by declaring his teams innings early. Middlesex won the County Championship in 1947 thanks to the run scoring of Compton

4.
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
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Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the county of Glamorgan a. k. a. Founded in 1888, Glamorgan held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship before the First World War, in 1921, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to senior status as an official first-class team. Glamorgan has been classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963, Glamorgan is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. They have won the English County Championship competition in 1948,1969 and 1997, Glamorgan have also beaten international teams from all of the Test playing nations, including Australia whom they defeated in successive tours in 1964 and 1968. The clubs limited overs team is called simply Glamorgan, kit colours are blue and yellow for limited overs matches. The club is based in Cardiff and plays most of its games at Sophia Gardens. Matches have also occasionally played at Swansea, Colwyn Bay. Cricket probably reached Wales and Glamorgan by the end of the 17th century, the earliest known reference to cricket in Glamorgan is a match at Swansea in 1780. The formation of Glamorgan CCC took place on 6 July 1888 at a meeting in the Angel Hotel, the club competed in the Minor Counties Championship for many years and then applied for first-class status after the First World War. Glamorgan CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Cardiff Arms Park on 18–20 May 1921, riches, Glamorgan won this first match by 23 runs. Only one more victory was achieved that summer, Glamorgan lost 14 games, Glamorgan won the county championship in 1948 under the captaincy of Wilf Wooller, whose advocacy of high fielding standards was the key to beating stronger batting and bowling teams. Glamorgan was the venue for a piece of cricket history on 31 August 1968 when, during Glamorgan v Notts at Swansea. Glamorgan won the championship again under Tony Lewis in 1969 and Matthew Maynard in 1997, Lewis is the only Glamorgan player to captain England in Tests, when he became the first Glamorgan cricketer to lead an England tour abroad to play series against India and Pakistan in 1972-73. Maynard, who retired at the end of the 2005 season, was one of the most successful batsmen in first class cricket over the previous 20 years. The 2005 captain, off spinner Robert Croft, proved effective on England tours, the club had plans in April 2006 to extend its grounds in the Grade 2 Listed Heritage Park that is Sophia Gardens, with a 17,500 seat super-stadium. Sophia Gardens became a Test cricket venue in 2009 when the First Test in the Ashes series against Australia was held there and it is currently known as The SSE SWALEC due to the clubs commercial partnership with electricity supply and distribution company SWALEC. Denotes the players number, as worn on the back of their shirt

5.
Middlesex CCC
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Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the county of Middlesex. Middlesex teams formed by earlier organisations since the early 18th century always had senior status and so the county club is rated accordingly from inception, the club plays most of its home games at Lords Cricket Ground in St Johns Wood, which is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club. The club also plays some games around the county at the Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground. Until October 2014, the club played limited overs cricket as the Middlesex Panthers, however, on 24 October 2014, the club announced that they would use the name Middlesex County Cricket Club in all forms of the sport, with immediate effect. Limited-overs kit colours are blue and pink quarters and from 2007. Middlesex CCC has a school based in Finchley, the Middlesex Academy. Early references to the game in London or Middlesex are often interchangeable, see, History of cricket to 1696 and History of cricket 1697 -1725 The first definite mention of cricket in London or Middlesex dates from 1680. It is a reference to the two umpires and strongly suggests that the double wicket form of the game was already well known in London. The earliest known match in Middlesex took place at Lambs Conduit Fields in Holborn on 3 July 1707 involving teams from London and Croydon, in 1718, the first reference is found to White Conduit Fields in Islington, which later became a very famous London venue. The earliest known reference to a team called Middlesex is on 5 August 1728 when it played London Cricket Club in the fields behind the Woolpack, in Islington, near Sadlers Wells and this was also the earliest known first-class match involving a Middlesex team. The club was founded on 15 December 1863 at a meeting in the London Tavern. Formal constitution took place on 2 February 1864, Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Islington on 6 &7 June 1864. In the same season, the club was a contender for the title of Champion County, Middlesex played at Lillie Bridge Grounds from 1869 before leaving in 1872 due to the poor quality of the turf. The club nearly folded at this time, a vote for continuing being won 7–6 and they played at Princes Cricket Ground from 1872 to 1876, and began using Lords Cricket Ground in 1877. The Club has produced several noted players, particularly the great batsmen Patsy Hendren, Bill Edrich, Bill Edrich scored 1,000 runs before the end of May in 1938. He needed just 15 innings, with 4 centuries, and every run was scored at Lords, don Bradman gave him the chance to score the 10 runs he needed in the Australian tour match with Middlesex by declaring his teams innings early. Middlesex won the County Championship in 1947 thanks to the run scoring of Compton

6.
Staffordshire CCC
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Staffordshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the county of Staffordshire. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Championship Eastern Division, Staffordshire played List A matches occasionally from 1971 until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team per se. The earliest known reference to cricket being played in Staffordshire is as late as 1817, the present Staffordshire CCC was founded on 24 November 1871 and took part in the first Minor Counties Championship in 1895. It then lapsed for four years as it could not arrange sufficient fixtures, Staffordshire has won the Minor Counties Championship 11 times, more than any other county. It won the title outright in 1906,1908,1911,1920,1921,1927,1991,1992,1993,1998 and 2014. The 1914 title was disputed as the war prevented several matches from being played, barnes did not play, though, between 1920 and 1924, a period when Staffordshire won the Championship twice when the leading player was Aaron Lockett. Staffordshire has won the MCCA Knockout Trophy twice since its inception in 1983

7.
Jack Gregory (cricketer)
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Jack Morrison Gregory was an Australian cricketer. As well as 129 first class matches for New South Wales he played in 24 Tests between 1920 and 1928. He was known mainly as a fearsome right-arm fast bowler but he achieved a batting average of 36.50 and 1146 runs including two centuries, batting left-handed and gloveless. He also batted without a box and his best bowling was 7/69 in an innings and 8/101 in a match at the 1920/21 Test against England at the MCG. The record stood until 1985 when Viv Richards managed the feat with 56 balls and his record of 15 catches in the 1920–21 Ashes series still stands as the record for the most catches by a fieldsman in a Test series. Jack was the nephew of two of the very early Australian cricketers, Dave and Ned Gregory, a knee injury suffered in the 1928 Brisbane Test match brought his cricket career to an abrupt finish. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1922, List of New South Wales representative cricketers List of Test or One-day International cricket families Cashman, Franks, Maxwell, Sainsbury, Stoddart, Weaver, Webster

8.
Charlie Macartney
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Charles George Charlie Macartney was an Australian cricketer who played in 35 Tests between 1907 and 1926. Sir Donald Bradman—generally regarded as the greatest batsman in history—cited Macartneys dynamic batting as an inspiration in his cricket career and he started his career as a bowling all-rounder. He made his Test debut in 1907, primarily as a left arm orthodox spinner who was considered to be a useful lower-middle order right-hand batsman, as Macartney was initially selected for his flexibility, his position in the batting order was frequently shuffled and he was largely ineffective. His most noteworthy Test contribution in his career was a match-winning ten wicket haul at Headingley in 1909. It was around this time that Macartney befriended Trumper and began to transform himself from a bowler who batted in a defensive and technically correct manner, into an audacious attacking batsman. He reclaimed his Test position and made his maiden Test century in the same season, the First World War stopped all first-class cricket and Macartney enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. Upon the resumption of cricket, Macartney stamped himself as one of the batsmen in the world with his performances during the 1921 Ashes tour. Macartney produced an Australian record score in England of 345 against Nottinghamshire, the innings was the fastest triple century in first-class cricket and the highest score made by a batsman in a single day of play. He reached 300 in 205 minutes and the innings took less than four hours, Macartney topped the batting averages and run-scoring aggregates, which saw him named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1922. Wisden said that he was, by degrees the most brilliant. After missing the 1924–25 series due to illness or a recurrence of war injuries. He became the second Australian to score a century in the first session of a Test match and this was part of a sequence of three consecutive Test centuries as he led the batting charts. Macartney was posthumously inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2007, Macartneys flair was compared to that of Victor Trumper, and his determination to that of Don Bradman, who is generally regarded as the finest batsman in cricketing history. His style was different from that of Trumper, but he generated fascination with his Trumper-like daring. Self-taught to a greater extent than anyone else in Australia or England in his era and he is not a model to be copied and one of the most brilliant and attractive right-handed batsmen in the history of Australian cricket. His success was attributed to his eye, hand and foot co-ordination. Macartney was a man, standing 160 cm. When batting, he would attempt to leg glance yorkers pitched on middle stump down to fine-leg

9.
Ted McDonald
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A very fast bowler with the ability to cause problems even on docile pitches, Ted McDonald was the unexpected bowling sensation of the 1921 Australian tour to England. Where Gregory was able to swing the ball both ways, McDonald imparted vicious movement off the wicket, like later fast bowling pairs, they were devastating in combination, taking 46 wickets in the series. McDonald played a few matches for Victoria before the First World War and he was picked for three Test matches in the 1920–21 series against England, which Australia won 5–0, but had little success, his six wickets costing 65 runs each. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1922 for his exploits of the previous summer, after the England tour, McDonald played in three Tests against South Africa in the 1921–22 series in South Africa. By 1924, he had qualified to play for Lancashire, initially, because of his League commitments, in midweek games only. In his first full season,1925, he took 205 wickets, and in the five seasons from 1926 to 1930, Lancashire won the County Championship four times, in all, he took 1053 wickets for Lancashire. His value to the county was recognised in the award of a benefit in 1929, mcDonalds first-class career ended fairly suddenly. At the end of the season, he went back to the Lancashire League with Bacup and he died, at the age of 46, when his car collided with another near Bolton, England, on the morning of 22 July 1937. He also played Australian rules football for Launceston, and for Essendon Football Club, ISBN 0-9591740-2-8 Peter Pierce, McDonald, Edgar Arthur, pp. pp 249–250 in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol.10, Melbourne University Press,1986

10.
England cricket team
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The England cricket team is the team that represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1 January 1997 it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board, England and Australia were the first teams to play a Test match, and these two countries together with South Africa formed the Imperial Cricket Conference on 15 June 1909. England and Australia also played the first One Day International on 5 January 1971, Englands first Twenty20 International was played on 13 June 2005, once more against Australia. As of 9 March 2017, England has played 983 Test matches, winning 351, the team has won The Ashes on 32 occasions, the same number as their opponents Australia. England has played 683 ODIs, winning 332, and its record in major ODI tournaments includes finishing as runners-up in three Cricket World Cups, and also in two ICC Champions Trophys, England has also played 89 T20Is, winning 43. They won the ICC World Twenty20 in 2010, and were runners-up in 2016, England are currently ranked fourth in Tests, fifth in ODIs and fifth in T20Is by the ICC. England currently holds the record for the highest ever ODI total of 444, such matches were repeated on numerous occasions for the best part of a century. In 1846 William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven and this team would eventually compete against a United All-England Eleven with annual matches occurring between 1847 and 1856. These matches were arguably the most important contest of the English season if judged by the quality of the players, the first overseas tour occurred in September 1859 with England touring North America. This team had six players from the All-England Eleven, six from the United All-England Eleven and was captained by George Parr, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, attention turned elsewhere. English tourists visited Australia in 1861-62 with this first tour organised as a venture by Messrs Spiers and Pond. Most matches played during tours prior to 1877 were against odds and this first Australian tour were mostly against odds of at least 18/11. The tour was so successful that George Parr led a tour in 1863–64. James Lillywhite led a subsequent England team which sailed on the P&O steamship Poonah on 21 September 1876 and they would play a combined Australian XI, for once on even terms of 11 a side. The match, starting on 15 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground came to be regarded as the inaugural Test match, the combined Australian XI won this Test match by 45 runs with Charles Bannerman of Australia scoring the first Test century. At the time, the match was promoted as James Lillywhites XI v Combined Victoria, the teams played a return match on the same ground at Easter,1877, when Lillywhites team avenged their loss with a victory by four wickets. The first Test match on English soil occurred in 1880 with England victorious, – The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. As a result of loss the tour of 1882–83 was dubbed by England captain Ivo Bligh as the quest to regain the ashes

11.
Australia national cricket team
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The Australia national cricket team, represents the country of Australia in international cricket. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, having played in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team draws its players from teams playing in the Australian domestic competitions – the Sheffield Shield, the Australian domestic limited-overs cricket tournament and the Big Bash League. The national team has played 801 Test matches, winning 377, losing 215, drawing 207, Australia is ranked the number-one team overall in Test cricket in terms of overall wins, win-loss ratio and wins percentage. As of 29 March 2017, Australia is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship on 108 rating points, the Australian cricket team has played 898 ODI matches, winning 554, losing 303, tying 9 and with 32 ending in no-result. They currently lead the ICC ODI Championship, having done so for 130 of 161 months since its introduction in 2002. Australia have made a record seven World Cup final appearances and have won the World Cup a record five times in total,1987,1999,2003,2007 and 2015 and it is also the second team to win a World Cup on home soil, after India. The team was undefeated in 34 consecutive World Cup matches until 19 March at the 2011 Cricket World Cup where Pakistan beat them by 4 wickets. Australia have also won the ICC Champions Trophy twice – in 2006 and in 2009 – making them the first and the only team to become back to back winners in the Champions Trophy tournaments. Test cricket, which occurred between Australia and England at the time, was limited by the long distance between the two countries, which would take several months by sea. Most cricketers at the time were either from New South Wales or Victoria, with the exception of George Giffen. A highlight of Australias early history was the 1882 Test match against England at The Oval, in this match Fred Spofforth took 7/44 in the games fourth innings to save the match by preventing England from making their 85-run target. This was the start of the famous Ashes series in which Australia, to this day, the contest is one of the fiercest rivalries in sport. It participated in between the 1897–98 English tour of Australia and the 1910–11 South African tour of Australia, Victor Trumper became one of Australias first sporting heroes, and was widely considered Australias greatest batsman before Bradman and one of the most popular players. He played a number of Tests at 49 and scored 3163 runs at a high for the time average of 39.04. His early death in 1915 at the age of 37 from kidney disease caused national mourning, the Wisden Cricketers Almanack, in its obituary for him, called him Australias greatest batsman, Of all the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper was by general consent the best and most brilliant. Led by Peter McAlister, who was attempting to gain control of tours from the players. This led to six leading players walking out on the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England and this was the last series before the war, and no more cricket was played by Australia for eight years, with Tibby Cotter being killed in Palestine during the war. Test cricket resumed in the 1920/21 season in Australia with a touring English team, captained by Johnny Douglas losing all five Tests to Australia, the team continued its success on the 1921 Tour of England, winning three out of the five Tests in Warwick Armstrongs last series

12.
Phil Mead
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Charles Phillip Mead was a left-handed batsman for Hampshire and England between 1905 and 1936. He was born at 10 Ashton Buildings, second eldest of seven children, as a child he played for South London Schools, attending Shillingstone Street School. His exceptionally straight bat and quick footwork made him one of the most difficult batsmen to dismiss throughout his career, Mead holds many batting records, notably that of scoring the most runs in the County Championship and the fourth-highest total in all first-class matches. His number of runs for Hampshire, in fact, is the greatest number any batsman has scored for a single team and he also exceeded one thousand runs in every season of first-class cricket except his first – when he only played one match. He was also a fine fieldsman, holding 675 catches, C B Fry spotted Mead playing as a schoolboy at the Oval and encouraged him to become a professional, he joined the Surrey ground staff in 1902. Mead first trialled for Surrey, but qualified for Hampshire because Surreys batting strength was such that they were unable to offer him a contract and it is possible that Frys Hampshire connections helped bring Mead to Hampshire. After one match against the touring Australians when not qualified in 1905, Mead immediately became a regular with Hampshire, however, from 1907 onwards Mead, at this stage an opening batsman, advanced very rapidly, with his average reaching 39 in the very wet summer of 1909. He was not nearly so successful as might have expected in Australia. In 1912 he had been unbeaten in Hampshires historic win over the Australians at Southampton, after World War I halted county cricket. He also hit his highest score of 280 not out that year against Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, remarkably, lost the match as they had been bowled out cheaply on a good wicket in their first innings. After scoring over 3000 runs in 1928, Mead toured Australia for the second time, in 1929, affected by injury, Mead declined substantially, failing to reach 2000 runs for the first time since the war. He had predictable mannerisms – having got to the crease with his rolling, self-reliant walk, he took guard, twirled his bat, tapped his bat in the crease, before every ball he would tug his cap. His batting was not slow, but completely unhurried, a spectator once described him as having stone-walled from a quarter to one to half past six for 200. Soon after World War II, problems with his eyes which had begun in 1941-2 led to Mead becoming totally blind and his financial worries were assuaged by a fund raised by Herbert Sutcliffe for Mead and Len Braund. He retained a great interest in cricket and often attended Hampshire matches at Dean Park right up to his death on 26 March 1958. In 1907, Mead signed for Southampton for one season to assist the clubs reserve team as a useful inside-forward, Mead therefore played in goal in a Southern League match against West Ham United. According to Holley & Chalks The Alphabet of the Saints he shaped up well but was required to save two shots and kept a blank sheet in a 0–0 draw. Married to Beatrice Englefield in 1908, he had two sons, Ronald and Frank, beatrices brother, Frank Englefield, was a prominent local footballer, making one appearance for Southampton in 1899

13.
Wilfred Rhodes
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Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs and he holds the world records both for the most appearances made in first-class cricket, and for the most wickets taken. He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match. Beginning his career for Yorkshire in 1898 as a left arm bowler who was a useful batsman. He played throughout the 1920s as an all-rounder before retiring after the 1930 cricket season and his first appearance for England was in 1899 and he played regularly in Tests until 1921. Recalled to the team in the final Ashes Test of 1926 aged 48 and he ended his Test career in the West Indies in April 1930. As a bowler, Rhodes was noted for his accuracy, variations in flight and, in his early days. Throughout his career he was effective on wet, rain affected pitches where he could bowl sides out for very low scores. His batting was regarded as solid and dependable but unspectacular, however, they considered him to be an astute cricket thinker. Following his retirement from playing cricket, he coached at Harrow School but was not a great success and his eyesight began to fail from around 1939 to the point where he was completely blind by 1952. He was given membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1949. Rhodes was born in the village of Kirkheaton, just outside Huddersfield and his family moved to a farm two miles away while he was very young. He went to school in nearby Hopton, and later to Spring Grove School in Huddersfield, around 1893 he took a job working on the railway in the local town of Mirfield. By now playing regularly for Kirkheaton Second XI, Rhodess keenness to reach one game on time led him to ring the off-duty bell before the end of the shift, subsequently, he worked on a local farm, which allowed him more time for cricket. By 1895 he achieved a place in the Kirkheaton first team, Rhodes played for Gala Cricket Club in 1896 and 1897, as an all-rounder who opened the batting and bowled medium paced seamers. He took 92 wickets in his first season, and discovered that bowling a slow ball brought him some success. He decided to change his style to spin, and spent the winter of 1896–97 practising on the family farm while also working again on the railway

14.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
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Wisden Cricketers Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. It is considered the worlds most famous reference book. The description bible of cricket was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a review for the London Mercury, in October 2013, an all-time Test World XI was announced to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers Almanack. In 1998, an Australian edition of Wisden Cricketers Almanack was launched, in 2012, an Indian edition of Wisden Cricketers Almanack was launched. Wisden was founded in 1864 by the English cricketer John Wisden as a competitor to Fred Lillywhites The Guide to Cricketers and its annual publication has continued uninterrupted to the present day, making it the longest running sports annual in history. The sixth edition was the first published under its current title, charles Pardon, with George Kelly King, founded the Cricket Reporting Agency in 1880. Wisden was acquired and published by Robert Maxwells publishing conglomerate, Macdonald, Cricket fan Sir John Paul Getty, Jr. bought the company, John Wisden & Co, in 1993 and in December 2008 it was sold to A&C Black, which is owned by Bloomsbury. The company presented the Wisden Trophy, for Test matches between England and West Indies, in 1963 to celebrate its 100th edition, in 2013, a history of Wisden was published, The Little Wonder, The Remarkable History of Wisden, by Robert Winder. The Little Wonder was John Wisdens nickname, Wisden is a small-paged but a very thick book with a distinctive bright yellow cover that it has carried since the 75th edition in 1938. Prior to that, covers varied between yellow, buff and salmon pink and that edition was also the first to display the famous woodcut of two cricketers, by Eric Ravilious, on its cover. It is published each April, just before the start of the English domestic cricket season, since 2003 the woodcut has been replaced as the main feature of the front cover by a photograph of a current cricketer, but still appears albeit in a much reduced size. It is produced in both hardcover and softcover versions, since 2006, a larger format edition has been published on an experimental basis. This is said to be in response to requests from readers who find the print size of the standard edition hard to read and it is around twice the traditional size and was published in a limited edition of 5,000. It is not a print book as such, as the print will still be of a size found in many standard books. From 2011 an Epub version, The Shorter Wisden, has been available in online bookstores, excluded are the statistics and other cricket reports contained within the Almanack proper. The format has changed markedly over the years, the first edition had only 112 pages yet found space to cover the dates of battles in the English Civil War, the winners of The Oaks and the rules of quoiting. The traditional Wisden Cricketers of the Year awards, which date back to 1889, traditionally the main source for key statistics about the game, although it has never attempted to be comprehensive. Nowadays the records section is intended to be complementary to the more detailed data available online at Wisdens associated website ESPNcricinfo

15.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

16.
Underarm bowling
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In cricket, underarm bowling is as old as the sport itself. Until the introduction of the style in the first half of the 19th century, bowling was performed in the same way as in bowls. For centuries, bowling was performed exactly as in bowls because the ball was rolled or skimmed along the ground. The bowlers may have used variations in pace but the action was essentially the same. Crickets first great bowling revolution occurred probably in the 1760s when bowlers started to pitch the ball instead of rolling it along the ground, the pitched delivery was established by 1772 when detailed scorecards became commonplace and the straight bat had already replaced the curved one by that time. There is no doubt that the bat was invented to contest the pitched delivery. It has been said that the inventor was John Small of Hambledon but it is unlikely that he invented it, rather. The 1760s are one of crickets Dark Ages, a deal more is known about the decades 1731–1750 than of 1751–1770. This has largely to do with the impact of the Seven Years War of 1756–1763 which not only claimed the sports manpower but also its patronage. The rules for bowlers in the 1744 Laws focus on the position of the foot during delivery. The umpires were granted discretion and so presumably would call no ball if, say, one of the first great bowlers to employ the pitched delivery to good effect was Edward Lumpy Stevens of Chertsey and Surrey. There is a rhyme about him to the effect that honest Lumpy did allow he neer would pitch. Lumpy was a professional who studied the arts and crafts of the game to seek continuous improvement as a bowler. He is known to have observed the flight of the ball and experimented for long hours with variations of line, length, other great bowlers of the late 18th century were Thomas Brett and David Harris, both of Hambledon. They were fast bowlers whereas Lumpy relied on variety of pace, an interesting bowler of the time was Lamborn who spun the ball in an unorthodox fashion and may have been the original unorthodox spinner. Underarm bowling was effective while pitch conditions were difficult for batsmen due to being uneven, in time, especially after the opening of Lords and the development of groundsmanship, pitches began to improve and batsmen were able to play longer innings than formerly. In the 1780s and 1790s, one of the best batsmen around was Tom Walker, Walker was another improviser like Lumpy and he began to experiment by bowling with his hand away from his body. It is not clear how high he raised his hand but it could have been waist height and he was accused of jerking the ball and so delivering it in an unfair and improper manner

17.
History of cricket to 1725
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The earliest definite reference to cricket is dated Monday,17 January 1597. Derricks testimony makes clear that the sport was being played c.1550, All that can be said with a fair degree of certainty is that its beginning was earlier than 1550, somewhere in south-east England within the counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Therefore, forest clearings and land where sheep had grazed would have been suitable places to play, the sparse information available about the early years suggests that it may have been a childrens game in the 16th century but, by 1611, it had become an adult pastime. The earliest known organised match was played c.1611, a year in other significant references to the sport are dated. From 1611 to 1725, less than thirty matches are known to have been organised between recognised teams, similarly, only a limited number of players, teams and venues of the period have been recorded. The earliest matches played by English parish teams are examples of village cricket, although village matches are now considered minor in status, the early matches are significant in crickets history simply because they are known. There were no reports of matches until the end of the seventeenth century and so the primary sources are court records and private diaries. During the reign of Charles I, the took a increased interest as patrons. Its patrons staged lucrative eleven-a-side matches featuring the earliest professional players, meanwhile, English colonists had introduced cricket to North America and the West Indies, and the sailors and traders of the East India Company had taken it to the Indian subcontinent. In the first quarter of the 18th century, more information about cricket became available as the newspaper industry took an interest. The sport noticeably began to spread throughout England as the century went on, by 1725, significant patrons such as Edwin Stead, Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Sir William Gage were forming teams of county strength in Kent and Sussex. The earliest known great players, including William Bedle and Thomas Waymark, were active, Cricket was attracting large, vociferous crowds and the matches were social occasions at which gambling and alcoholic drinks were additional attractions. As early as c.1611, a match was recorded at Chevening in Kent between teams representing the Downs and the Weald. A number of words in use at the time are thought to be possible sources for the name cricket. In the earliest known reference to the sport in 1598, it is called creckett, in what may be an early reference to the sport, a 1533 poem attributed to John Skelton describes Flemish weavers as kings of crekettes, a word of apparent Middle Dutch origin. In Samuel Johnsons Dictionary of the English Language, he derived cricket from cryce, Saxon, in Old French, the word criquet seems to have meant a kind of club or stick, though this may have been the origin of croquet. Another possible source is the Middle Dutch word krickstoel, meaning a long low stool used for kneeling in church, according to Heiner Gillmeister, a European language expert of the University of Bonn, cricket derives from the Middle Dutch phrase for hockey, met de sen. Gillmeister believes the sport itself had a Flemish origin but the jury is out on the matter

18.
1729 English cricket season
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The 1729 cricket season was the 132nd in England since the earliest known definite reference to cricket in January 1597. Details have survived of seven important matches, the earliest known innings victory is believed to have happened in 1729 and the earliest known surviving cricket bat dates from the season. The earliest known reference to cricket in the county of Gloucestershire has been found, the match on 24 June involved a team specifically named Sussex, but the result is unknown. Despite losing to Gages team in August, Kent under the patronage of Edwin Stead is generally believed to have been the strongest county team of the 1720s, there is a bat in The Oval pavilion which belonged to John Chitty of Knaphill, Surrey. Dated 1729, it is the oldest known bat, pitching began about 30 years later and the straight bats used nowadays were invented in response to the pitched delivery. Dr Samuel Johnson attended the University of Oxford from October 1728 until the summer and later told James Boswell that cricket matches were played there. Boswell mentioned this in his Life of Samuel Johnson, a local game in Gloucester on Monday,22 September is the earliest known reference to cricket in Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire Gentlemen of London Gentlemen of Middlesex Sussex Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire none Walworth Common Woolpack, a Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 –1863. Cricket, A History of its Growth and Development, fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. From Commons to Lords, Volume One,1700 to 1750, a History of Cricket, Volume 1. A Social History of English Cricket, Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825, archived from the original on 29 June 2011